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McClure Lake and Reports

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Saturday, February 28th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 51

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished 100% WRL, great tourney but fishing was tough overall. #7.56 was winning weight with 1.81 LM as Big Fish. Fished slow all day. Spent the morning in temperence and last half of day in Piney. Fished brown/purple jig and drop shot, no reaction bite.
    City: modesto

    Tips: Fish were either right on bank or in 25 feet. Good luck!

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 51-54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Fished from 6am-130pm. Never caught a bass. I tried drop shotting, dart heads, in-line spinners, spinnerbaits, crankbaits. Cottonwood is full of carp. The dam area is full of debris from the rising water level. large branches and grass comprise a floating obstacle course. the rest of the lake is ok.
    City: Atwater

Friday, February 20th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 52-53

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Yeah! Fishing Day!

    02/20/09 Lake McClure

    water temp: 52-53
    Water clarity: 8ft
    Wind: Initially calm but progressed pushing easterly at 2-4mph
    Time:1130 am- 3 pm

    Not much has changed at McClure, the trout are still biting with easy limits possible. I initially decided to troll and could only hook up once I added the flashers. I did best with the all silver needlefish, which is still consistent with the all shad all the time pattern they have been on. The fish are still in the top 10ft, and while my late arrival may be part of it, it did seem if some of the frenzy was gone.

    I had my son with me, and couldn't muster up finesse tactics...I gave an attempt to try out My friends new spinnerbaits, which I like. ANd I tossed some Norman DD-22's ..which I also very much like. Needless to say McClure isnt ready for reaction bites.

    I talked to a few rare bass fishermen on the lake and at the boat ramp. The consistent story is small bass on soft plastics at 25-40ft.

    I talked to the Lake officials...er rangers..er MID guys and while Mcswain has been stocked with over 22,000 lbs this month, they weren't aware of what McClure had recieved. I guess DFG stocks as they please there, without a schedule.

    Mcswain remains incredibly low and despite massive brown and brook trout plants fishing was really slow. I saw only two boats at 11am, and one reported a dead bite. They also said They hadn't seen any Browns..... So where are they? Not at the brush pile..the major hot spot on the Lake.

    Additionally Mcswain isnt releasing anymore...making the downstream inflow to the merced a waste land of mud.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: Trout: long line trolling kastmasters,minnow baits or shad patterns.

    Bass: deep 25-40ft with soft plastics.

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 53-56

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: No reaction bites again for Ron Howe and Jon Bradford we cranked,spinnerbaited, and tossed swimbaits 3hrs of the day. Berserk Baits dartheads tipped with Plastics 4 and 6" in natural colors and Berserk Baits Jigs in green craw tipped with a double tail grub got as many bites as you could stand. Fish were in 30-34ft and as deep as 55ft on ledges like the edge of a stair case. Fish slow and keep your line tight.

    We caught over 35fish and lost many others no big ones but we had a fun day on the water.
    City: Elk Grove

    Tips: Fish slow keep your line tight they are biting good now!

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: WE CAUGHT 10 FISH ALL BLACK BASS RANGING FROM 2 TO 2 3/4 POUNDS.I WOULD RATHER CATCH BLACKBASS THAN SPOTS ANY DAY.SPOTS HAVE MADE THIS GREAT LAKE A MENICE.REALLY NICE TO SEE THE BLACKBASS POPULATION SERVIVING .
    City: PLANADA

    Tips: 30 TO 40 FEET DEEP DROPSHOT WORMS.

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

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    Water Temp: 54

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Time: 6am-2pm
    Water Temp: 54 approx. 6 ft visability
    Weather: cold, slightly foggy
    Boats on water:16
    Most activity between temperence and cottonwood

    Trout action on swimbaits or Rapala or similar coutdown baits like cd-7 silver is excellent..crazy good in fact.

    Bass.....er...didnt catch any.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: If your fishing the tourney on Saturday...dont fish swimbaits or crankbaits, you will only catch trout.

Saturday, December 27th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 54~55

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Bass on rocks, in the river, in the creeks, basically everywhere ... key depth is 15'. That's the depth where the bait were today.

    However, if you REALLY want to have some fun. The trout action is OUTSTANDING. I caught a limit in 1/2 hour on a small ripbait (~10' diver). Couldn't catch any bass on it, but the trout was all over it.
    City: San Jose

    Tips: Get a limit of trout for dinner and go catch a bunch of bass. Overs are tough to get though! :(

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 59

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Caught several good fish on Berserk jigs and topwater. Jig fish were from 5-25ft deep. Lost a 10+ on a hudd.

    Tips: More detailed report @ www.fishwrangler.net

Sunday, November 23rd, 2008

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Got out for a few hrs. today (1200-1500hrs) just to run the boat around a little bit. Stopped and fished some main lake steep walls, rocky points and caught around 10 bass - 2 largies, the rest spots on dropshot, darthead worms. Had a few slaps on my spinnerbait but dropshot was definitely the way to go today.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: Had the boat in 40'of water and casting to the bank. Rocky points, steep rock walls were best. Fish were in 20-30' range hitting on the fall - slow presentation.

Friday, November 21st, 2008

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    Water Temp: 64 Degrees

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Last Minute plan to go fishing at 2:00 P.M...Lake was calm..no fish jumping, cooler at about 60 degrees outside. Started fishing at rocks on East Side of Dam. Caught on second cast with a Natural Shad Senko. The Senko was in 6 inches of water and a 2 pound Black swam up and carried it away. I caught another 2 Pound Spot on the other end of the dam in the same exact way. We proceeded to fish along the Rock Walls all the way from the east corner of the dam to the next "big" cove. Caught 4 more between 12"-16" on #330 Senko hooked wacky style. All baits were moved very slowly, and the fish hit in 1-8' of water. Last spot we fished was in the next large cove past Temperance, and in the back of of a point we caught another 3 Bass of 1-3'. All in all we caught 10 fish in 3.5 hours, so for such a short time..pretty good.
    City: Merced, CA

    Tips: Water is cooling. Slow down the movement. Noticed that the fish were either hitting on the fall, or after the bait settled. Never got a hit on rip baits, or rapid movement of Senko, only slight, slow movement.

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 70

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Pre-fished a tournament for the angler choice. After the front moved through and the full moon fishing was tough. Tried dropshotting, jigs, swimbaits, jerkbaits, and hula grubs. Cottonwood was dead, one Dink. The dam had a decent amount of fish in there. The river walls held the most concentration of fish but most of them had lock jaw. Total for the day was about a 6-7 pound bag. Not going to cut it for the tournament.
    City: Modesto

    Tips: Stay throwing the jigs. Produced the bigger keepers. Stay up in the river for the chance for a limit.

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 72

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Tried jerk baits with only one bite in three hours, tried swin baits, crank baits, top water, only got a few dinks (10" not keepers) on crank bait at the back of the lake. Moved to Cottonwood and threw everything, got a 4 pounder on a brown Strike King jig, and a couple of small keeper blade fish. Tough bite but one very nice jig fish.
    City: Merced

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

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    Water Temp: 74-75

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: McClure is low,low,low. Old Dam is now 5' above water. Weather was nice, overcast, and slightly windy. Fished Temperance, Old Dam, and the rock walls around the dam. No bites on plastics, top water, and drop shotting. We went upriver to an area next to where the old railroad runs around the lake. I tied on a Luckcraft Pointer in Chartreuse Minnow color and caught 13 fish from 1030-1230. Most were small, @8-9 inches, but did get a 2lb and a 3lb spot along some rock piles. Saw lots of bluegills jumping and trout seemed very active.
    City: Merced, CA

    Tips: Until we get some rain, and the lake gets fresh water, the fishing is going to be challenging. Foe me, if there's any wind, go with ripbaits and blades near rocks. The water was fairly clear upriver, and most of the hits were 10-12' from shore. The fish finder saw fish suspended from 15-30', and going shallow to attack my ripbait. Hit rocky points and shelfs. I prefer LuckyCraft Chartreuse Pointer minnows. As my buddy Anthony Tonachion says..."You can never go wrong with Luckycraft".

Tuesday, September 30th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 75

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: We threw everything, swim bait, cranking, jigs, top water etc... nothing worked, then I threw my shaky head worm with a small 4" shad colored worm in about 15' of water and we got on a good bite. Caught about 15 fish in two hours.
    City: Merced

    Tips: Fish very slow off the points where you find rocks on the bottom.

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 80

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: Returned to Mclure to find the water level lower than I've ever seen it. I fished the Cottonwood creek area and caught Several Itty Bitty Florida Strain Bass. Fish abundant on the fish finder, but never hooked a legal catch. Fished from 1200- 400pm caught 10 very small bass.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: Fishing at night maybe more productive, but with the drastic change in water levels becareful.

Monday, August 25th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 79

    Water Clarity: Muddy (0-2 foot visibility)

    Report: Took my Future Son-in-Law out today. He has never fisher for bass and hasn't fished since he was 8. I started teaching him how to use a spinning reel and then we headed to the lower end. man the shad were everywhere and the bass were gorging on hem. I only caught two but their mouths were full of shad, so I don't how they even bit. Son-in-Law didn't get bit but was looking forward to future trips.
    City: Fresno

    Tips: Shad colored worms dropshotted

Monday, August 4th, 2008

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    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: lake dropping about a foot a day, bouy at bridge is out of water. Found fish holding between 30-40' dart heads and drop shot and a real tough bite.

Thursday, July 24th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 80

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: Water dropping like a stone....at least 4' in a week and a half.

    Bagby still modestly productive in open water, small spots are biting less than 12" and 6" bass at mclure point as well. Big ones may be deep...maybe.
    City: Atwater

    Tips: pray for rain

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008

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    Water Temp: 80

    Water Clarity: Clear (4+ foot visibility)

    Report: fishing the bagby area again from 12-7. Water level of the lake plumeted since last wednesday. The area I had so much luck was already dried up, leaving some monster sized frogs living in puddles. The area by the portable bathroom near horseshoe bar no longer has a passable inner lane and the tunnel my mclure point is pout of the water. The bite was sparse but consistent throughout the day, and picked up as i was leaving at 645 pm.
    City: atwater

    Tips: the bass in slower water and grass are eating trout minnows and tadpoles and possibly monster sized frogs. My son caught a 15-17" long frog that was very dark green.

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

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    Water Temp: 78-80

    Water Clarity: Stained (2-4 foot visibility)

    Report: What a weird day on the lake. I got out there about 530, missing the false dawn and was fishing by 545. Topwater on Zara spooks failed. Spinnerbaits and buzzbaits failed. Crankbaits failed...my first four hour a big zilch.....piney creek and barretts areas. then I went rovin, and headed up toward bagby and found some atypical structure....and was sight fishing some nice florida and spotted bass. at first i was using in line spinners and hooked a 3 lb bass on a roostertail, but between the light tackle and a very aggresive fish i lost him....but soon i was catching some 15-16in bass...never saw the big one again. But what really worked well was drop shotting..a 3in reaper in that grey with white and red fleck. On my first cast a bass...and nearly every cast..until the area i was fishing was depleted. I was with my son and he caught several 6in bass on roostertails at mclure point as well. A weird but fun day...bite trailed off at about 2-3pm...and we were tired...feed the carp at baretts and then went home.
    City: atawater

    Tips: Dropshotting works!